Candid Tiny House – Lou

What does an award winning travel writer do when international borders are shut and even domestic travel is limited to one’s home state?

They make for themselves a monument to mobility. A talisman of freedom. A home with liberation as its foundations! They build themselves… a tiny house on wheels!

With no previous building experience, and harnessing the support of her partner and her retired builder friend, Lou’s learning curve was steep. And her approach was far from conventional. She designed her tiny house on paper, rather than the more commonly used 3D drawing software programs, which allowed her to know her tiny house intimately and communicate with her building team about it.

“I’m pretty confident with a pen and paper” she mused, as a reason to rely on the arguably old-school methodology of drawing up her plans. Lou also put her very well-practiced research skills to use for months before making any final decisions about her tiny house design.

Jumping into the building project, she was surprised at how creative the process of designing and building her tiny house was. She reflected that “It’s a very imaginative, creative process. I think that’s probably something that I didn’t anticipate. I knew it was going to be practical, and all about the skills and working things out… and the maths!” But she didn’t realise how creative the process would be until she was in it.

And as many DIY builders do, Lou learnt on the job. “My respect for tradies and builders, for tradespeople in general has just skyrocketed,” she said. She recommends that anyone thinking about taking on a tiny house build learns to use power tools before they begin. “I would also recommend practicing on some small projects before you start, make a shelf or a box or something little.”

Lou’s life, usually full of outward-facing adventures, became an inward adventure as she took on the enormous task of building a tiny house. The results are beautiful. Have a look at the gallery below to see pictures of her finished tiny house.

Follow Lou’s blog, No Impact Girl. Candid Tiny House - Lou Podcast/video/blog
Find Lou on Facebook.

Listen to the full interview with Lou wherever you get your podcasts.

In the Candid Tiny House podcast interview she spoke candidly about:

  • Her budget with a breakdown of the big-ticket items,
  • Designing the lighting in the tiny house to create different spaces,
  • Staging the off-grid aspects of her tiny house, and
  • Advice she would give to anyone thinking about building their own tiny house, particularly about managing the stress of taking on such a big, high-stakes project.

 
Trailer Data:

Length: 7.2 meters


Width: 2400mm (Option A)

Style: Flat Top

Date received trailer: September 2020

Date started working on house: September 2020

Date moved in: March 2021

Tour:

Podcast:

 

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Candid Tiny House - Lou

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